Apologies for the delay on this update, it was mostly written mid last month and various other things took over. Editing on the main game is complete, outside of proofreading and such which comes later down the line. Unfortunately this took a little longer than planned, so there is a bit of timeline shift. However I've double checked with our artists, printers (got new quotes for a bigger book and all that jazz), and fulfilment, who are all good to work with this timeline shift. Layout will begin this month, with a view to it being complete by the end of July.
Orders have locked, and all the extras have been ordered with the artwork to be confirmed once votes are in and the title for the Curator's Notebook is decided on.
For me, now that the editing is done I have refocused my energy to working on mysteries for Bookshop Patrons, and getting the events supplement written. This will be a digital supplement sent via Backerkit and itch.io for all backers, containing new event related bookshop "tasks" that you'll be able to add to the main game.
We're deep in the editing weeds because someone (definitely couldn't be me) managed to make The Wanderer's Bookshop a fair bit bigger than planned... It's not totally ridiculous, but we still want to make sure it's right, we're going to continue working on the edits until we're happy with it, so we've slightly extended that part of the timeline. Then we can go into layout magic.
Survey's have been out since the begining of the month, along with the pre-order being open. 92% of you have filled out your surveys which is fantastic!
If you have yet to fill out your survey, especially if you are a Bookshop Patron, please do so as soon as possible. Your quotes are being put in to the game whilst we're going through the editing process. If you can't fill out your survey for any reason please drop me an email with your literary quote (Johnsonofair(at)outlook.com).
It's been a busy few weeks, I've been finishing writing behind the scenes so that all the extra sections can go into editing. There have been a couple of planning meetings and we've got a good structure going forward.
The notebook cover has been commissioned from Ramona and I've communicated with both Joshua and Alex.
The Wandering Tome Pin is finalised (who knew I could be so picky about a key).
I've designed a few versions of the Book List sheets so it's time to get your votes in on the Backer Only Poll to let me know your preference for what gets printed. All the designs will be included as digital printables for anyone getting the physical notepad, so you can continue to use them long after your notepad is finished. The two most popular designs will be available in the pledge manager as a printable add on for everyone else.
I've also completed an ashcan version Charm The Ferryman, so everyone that backed the small games bundle during the campaign will get a playtest copy of it along with your games bundle (emailed after you've completed your survey). I took it with me to Groundhog Play this past weekend for playtesting, and it's had a bit of an overhaul since then, so I'm interested to hear what you think. Then after any further revisions post more playtesting, it will be laid out by Grace Gittel Lewis, whose style is perfect for the silly underworld romp the game is.
Surveys will go out at the start of April once the poll is over, though smoke tests will be incoming this Friday. When surveys go out to everyone, the Pre-Order store will also open, so if you know anyone that missed out, they'll be able to pick up a copy.
That's pretty much it for now, I've got some mysteries to plan and guest writers to commission, so get voting and i'll catch you in April!
We've funded and over the next 14 days or so BackerKit will be charging and processing the funds for the Campaign. There are some failed charges, which BackerKit will email you about if this has occured with your pledge, you will have, I think, until next week to double check and correct this.
Now continues/begins the next steps to fulfillment. I've put together a rough timeline. open image in new tab to enlarge.
Things are subjects to change in that they might be completed earlier or later, but this is the current plan which builds in a bit of buffer either way. As you know a first draft is already with Brent (Our Fabulous Editor) and some playtesting copies containing the core game are out too. There will be some revisions based on incoming feedback this week and a more complete playtesting copy will go out to Bookshop Patrons later in the month along with their special survey. Designs are being done and finalised for the extras and I've reached out to get started on the art for The Curators Notebook. The next time you'll hear from me is when funds are received and surveys are ready to go out towards the middle/ end of this month.
We didn't quite meet all of our community goals. However I will collate a plain text book list of the recommendations given with the cards and prompts for them, so if you want to still add your recommendations to the resource, please do. This is likely something I will do in May. We were super close to the Independent Bookshop goal, so i'll also include a plain text list of those and if I have spare time I will pick a few to create map fragments from. So much appreciation for you all!
Lola
p.s. If you are in the UK and feel like travelling to Glasgow later this month for the Inaugural Groundhog Play, sign ups are open for another week for this free Playtesting Convention. Groundhog Play Info
Only 7 Hours Left ~ Bookshops, Prompts and Rambles
Hi Everyone!
We're in the last seven hours of the campaign, and I can't say enough how much I appreciate and am grateful for your support. Getting to create something that speaks from my heart to yours and to work with others to create something truly beautiful is everything to me. I hope that you get as much joy from playing it as I do from writing it, collaborating and reading books.
Join the discussions to help us unlock more things, we're over halfway to shouting out 30 Independent Bookshops and I have to add some shout outs for the shops that were willing to chat to me and inspired and supported my research. The Book Nook and Category Is in Glasgow, Common Press and New Beacon books in London, Books & Books in Florida and a tiny little secondhand bookshop in France whose name I don't remember (it was half my lifetime ago) but the magical paved path that wended it's way through the bookshelves will stick with me forever.
I've drawn three new cards for book prompts, so share a book from your collection you feel aligns with the prompts and help us build a community resource of extra prompts and recommendations.
2 of Wands from the Elemental Strength Tarot, The Sun from the Alleyway Tarot and the Nine of Air from the Rosewood Tarot.
A book that fears the unknown, A book that obliterates the darkness and a book that confronts fear
Speaking of which if you're interested in hearing me ramble about books and also to check out the rest of the Weird Place stream (apologies that it didn't seem to be set up properly to view from here). See my chat here and watch the full stream here.
The Weird Place are funding Residue a Solo Survival Sci-Fi Horror TTRPG on Kickstarter about wandering endless landscapes, searching ruins, and trying to stay alive long enough to find meaning. It looks like a fantastic game and I ran to support it. Watch the stream to let Gabriel and Le tell you more about their game themselves. As well as games from so many other fantastic creators!
For now share away and lets see if we can unlock the last Stretch Goals. We've got a little sun in Scotland (it's a bright day), that and you carry me through the rest of the day, I hope some of my joy can help carry you through yours.
We're in the last hours of the campaign and if we blow through our next two Stretch Goals then that means we get to add a new task to The Wanderer's Bookshop. Nicely rounding out our die and bringing it to a D12 for choosing between tasks instead of D10, which also means that both Events and the new task get to be core tasks in the game book instead of supplements that you can substitute in place of the others.
You get to decide what the new task should be and then I or one of our wonderful collaborators will make it happen! What do you dream of being able to do for your own magical bookshop?
The mechanics behind each task are carefully woven to incorporate different combinations of reading, collecting sources, journaling and creating something new.
Currently we've got "Building a Window Display" which looks at you finding one to three books to read using tarot card prompts and taking elements and themes from them to create a picture of how those all come together in a way that hooks a passerby.
"Cataloguing an intake" which incorporates books and other items that have appeared in your shop that you find or create and make a proper place for them in the bookshop along with writing a handy note of your impressions for anyone looking.
"Answering your question" which is your own mystery solving where you collect, find and incorporate different sources to build out a wider picture and story around the mystery as well as solve it.
Along with further worldbuilding, creating, and reading tasks like; transporting the bookshop to a new place and collecting stories to anchor it, creating something new from the fragments of broken works that have made their way to the bookshop, exploring the history of the bookshop and the curators before you, collecting stories of the people who visit, finding books for customers and more.
Tell us what you'd like to see and we'll put new tasks to a vote!
Kicking off our Indie bookshop recommendations for our community goals.
Share your favourite independent bookshop where ever it is so we can get to 30 recommendations. When we reach 30 recommendations every backer from A Digital Bookshop up will receive digital map fragments for each of those bookshops that you can include in your journals.
Apologies for the delay on this update, it was mostly written mid last month and various other things took over. Editing on the main game is complete, outside of proofreading and such which comes later down the line. Unfortunately this took a little longer than planned, so there is a bit of timeline shift. However I've double checked with our artists, printers (got new quotes for a bigger book and all that jazz), and fulfilment, who are all good to work with this timeline shift. Layout will begin this month, with a view to it being complete by the end of July.
Orders have locked, and all the extras have been ordered with the artwork to be confirmed once votes are in and the title for the Curator's Notebook is decided on.
For me, now that the editing is done I have refocused my energy to working on mysteries for Bookshop Patrons, and getting the events supplement written. This will be a digital supplement sent via Backerkit and itch.io for all backers, containing new event related bookshop "tasks" that you'll be able to add to the main game.
As the title space is designed to look like a shop title, leaving the space blank will allow for you to design your Bookshop's sign on the front cover. Alternatively this could have either The Curator's Notebook title or The Wanderer's Bookshop title. Which would mean that the inside space would be used for adding your Bookshop's title instead. Title font design pending if having a title on the front cover.
We're deep in the editing weeds because someone (definitely couldn't be me) managed to make The Wanderer's Bookshop a fair bit bigger than planned... It's not totally ridiculous, but we still want to make sure it's right, we're going to continue working on the edits until we're happy with it, so we've slightly extended that part of the timeline. Then we can go into layout magic.
Survey's have been out since the begining of the month, along with the pre-order being open. 92% of you have filled out your surveys which is fantastic!
If you have yet to fill out your survey, especially if you are a Bookshop Patron, please do so as soon as possible. Your quotes are being put in to the game whilst we're going through the editing process. If you can't fill out your survey for any reason please drop me an email with your literary quote (Johnsonofair(at)outlook.com).
